It looks like it’s only on a few stories (like the domestic partnership story) and after chatting with the folks there, it’s moderated, but lightly — mostly just to keep the crazy crap that belongs on R&R off of there (which is a good thing, as there are some damn crazy people on R&R).
The Source has had commenting on their articles (as have most local blogs) for a while, but it’s nice to see some other larger media outlets do it. I don’t expect to see it on the Bulletin anytime soon, though they are doing a bunch of online experiments like their Podcasts and their Near/Far local band site, so maybe we will see something there sometime. Nothing as of yet over on the KOHD site that was supposed to be a communitiy interactive site — we’ll see how long it takes to get to that point.
Comments
I’m doubtful that The Bull will ever allow comments on its articles. I have never seen a paper more reluctant to give any dissenting voices a hearing. Look at the editorial page — nothing but right-wing syndicated columnists (with Ellen Goodman as the token “liberal” — actually a moderate — one day a week). There’s an occasional letter or In My View column that departs from the paper’s right-wing Republican line, but not often. Another example: On Saturdays the paper used to run editorials from other papers around the state, often taking a different view than The Bull. A couple of years ago they dropped that practice in favor of running old Bull editorials from years or decades ago. What motive could there be for that change other than to keep dissenting opinions out of the editorial page? (The Bull’s ostensible reason — that readers would be more interested in editorials about local issues from 30 or 40 years ago than in the opinions of other papers about contemporary issues — is transparently phony.)
No, don’t look for The Bull to allow comments anytime soon — if ever.